How Americans define "rich," in one chart

[KamaAina]

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/2/8125629/middle-class-rich-US

There's no hard definition of what it means to be rich, and Americans disagree widely on the question as well. But one thing is for sure: the answer varies heavily with how much money you make.

In a recent column, Brookings Institution senior fellow Richard Reeve digs up 2011 poll data from Roper and Gallup to show how wide-ranging our definitions of "rich" are — more specifically, Americans have a tendency to define those who earn more than them — as rich....

The majority of people making less than $30,000 say it takes less than $100,000 to be rich. Then look at people those poorer Americans would consider rich — those making $50,000 to $99,000 — and the majority of those people think it takes still more money ($100,000 to $499,000) to be rich. Then look at people in that group — those making over $100,000 are far more likely than anyone else to say it takes $500,000 or more to be rich.

This is particularly fascinating when you also consider a 2013 Wall Street Journal Poll in which Americans of a wide range of incomes disproportionately considered themselves to be the definition of middle class. And when Gallup gave them five different classes to choose from, Americans picked "middle" 42 percent of the time (they said upper class 2 percent of the time). Americans are often described as individualistic, but we are also remarkably prone to defining ourselves into the vast middle of the economic pack. The people above us — wherever we are on the income scale — are the truly rich people, how we see it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. It's kind of like how my definition of "old" changes as I get older.

[closeupready]

3. lol yup.

[randys1]

2. Humbling for anybody reading this who makes in the $100K range and complains

But while some who make that complain they actually have a right given they pay an unfair percentage of the tax when compated to what the real rich dont pay.

But it is humbling all the way around because the real rich have the rest of us not just fighting over the scraps, but pointing fingers as well

[hifiguy]

4. That is what the REAL rich have done throughout history.

Set the peasants against each other and laugh all the way to their castles and banks.

One effective remedy for this:

[randys1]

5. Ouch, I truly hope it doesnt come to that. I am interested to see what the rank and file will do

when the terrorists take away healthcare and kill Americans

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. I think of "rich" as meaning you don't ever have to work for a living.

Even very well-paid professional people still have to have jobs. Maybe they have expensive cars and fancy houses in gated communities and send their kids to private schools and all that stuff, but they are still dependent on some other person or entity for their income. A lot those highly-paid Wall Street flunkies got laid off after the crash of '08 and ended up having to sell the Beemer and let the nice house go into foreclosure and move in with middle-class Mom and Dad. As long as you have to work for a living, even if you make some pretty big bucks, you aren't truly rich. Rich means you never have to do a lick of work for the rest of your life and you can still buy just about any damn thing you want. Mitt Romney is rich. The neurosurgeons and lawyers and car dealership owners in that gated community in the suburbs aren't. They still have to show up for work once in awhile to be sure little Biff and Boopsie don't get kicked out of Preppie Academy.